Alternative Lullabies
by Emma-face
Summary: Sometimes babies cry. Luckily Beca has a trick up her sleeve that never fails to soothe their newborn daughter but Chloe's not sure she approves.
1. Chapter 1

The high pitched wail of a newborn baby filled the room settling in the weary ears of her new parents. Beca sat on the sofa watching Chloe pace around the living room rocking the baby with a look of sympathy and amusement on her face.

There was no pressing reason for the baby's cries. She didn't need fed or changed or winded and clearly did not want to sleep; she was just going through one of those awkward phases where she was prone to being unsettled. The leaps app that Chloe had downloaded during the final month of her pregnancy had warned them about this and it turned out to be scarily accurate at predicting when their bundle of joy would become cranky. They were grateful as it has saved them from undue worrying knowing she was just fussy because of her growth stage. However the app had done nothing to help them soothe the crying baby in Chloe's arms. For the last 20 minutes she had been alternating between singing lullabies, rocking her in the nursing chair and pacing the floor, swaying her in her arms to soothe her. So far nothing had calmed the cries, and damn their child had definitely inherited her mother's impressive vocal range.

Beca could see Chloe was getting worn down. Both mother and baby were due their afternoon nap but still Chloe had not given up her quest to quiet baby Charlotte.

"You know, this can stop any time. All you have to do is hand her over and I can make the noise stop," Beca reminded her wife in a song-song voice. Chloe stopped in her tracks and frowned at her wife. She knew Beca was right but she had been determined to find another way to soothe Charlie.

She looked down at the fussy infant in her arms and back at her wife before sighing in defeat.

"Alright, fine, I give up! Do your thing Mama!" She said handing their daughter over. Beca smirked triumphantly as she adjusted the baby in her arms.

"Hi baby girl! What's all this fussing about?" She cooed, settling her daughter against her shoulder, the tiny babies head nestled into the crook of her neck still wailing impressively.

" _It's going down, fade to blackstreet_  
 _The homies got rb, collab creations_  
 _Bump like acne, no doubt,_ " Beca sang softly, changing the lilt and tempo of the classic R&B song so it sounded slightly more like a lullaby.

Chloe watched the scene with a clenched jaw as sure enough their fussy baby began to settle in Beca's arms. The brunette smirked smugly at her wife as the high pitched cries quieted to occasional whimpers as she continued.

It seemed funny now, those nights when Chloe was pregnant with Charlotte that Beca had worried that she wouldn't be a good mother, that she was the one who could so easily soothe the fussy infant. Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed unable to stop herself from joining in as Beca approached the chorus.

" _Shorty get down, good Lord_  
 _Baby got 'em open all over town._  
 _Strictly biz she don't play around,_  
 _Cover much ground, got game by the pound._ " Beca smiled at the sound of Chloe's voice joining hers as Charlotte's whinging finally settled to contented gurgling.

"I might question your methods but I can't argue with the results!" Chloe giggled quietly, reaching out to stroke the wispy red-blonde hairs on the the baby's head.

"Just call me the baby whisperer!" Beca smiled smugly settling back into a more comfortable position on the couch with Charlotte nestled happily against her chest. "Or baby rapper?"

Chloe rolled her eyes and cuddled into her girls.  
"Aubrey can never know about this!" Chloe half laughed. She could only imagine what the blonde would have to say about the suitability of Dr Dre for newborns.

"I don't know," Beca laughed, rolling her head to the side to kiss Chloe's head where it rested on her shoulder. "I think she might find it funny that Charlie inherited her mother's appreciation for my rap skills!"


	2. Chapter 2

Beca found the house oddly quiet when she arrived home from work. She kicked off her shoes and hung her keys on the hook by the door. She made her way up the stairs in search of her girls, looking forward to cuddles from both of them after a long day. When her foot hit the final step she could hear Chloe's voice coming from the nursery. She tiptoed towards the room leaning against the doorway as she watched Chloe pacing the floor with Charlie nestled against her shoulder.

 _"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realise there's nothing left.  
Cause I've been blastin' and laughin' so long that even my my momma thinks that my mind is gone,"_ Chloe sang softly to the infant in her arms. A smug grin crept across Beca's face as she realised waft she had caught her wife doing.

 _"But I ain't ever crossed a man that didn't deserve it, me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of.  
You better watch how you're talkin' and where you're walkin' or you and your homies might be lined in chalk," _Beca joined in with her wife's singing, her alto voice blending with Chloe's soprano tone as seamlessly as it did that first time they sang together in the shower stall all those years ago.

Chloe turned quickly when she heard Beca's voice, a look of guilt at being caught singing Gangsta's paradise to their 3 month old baby crossing her face.

"Busted!" the brunette sang teasingly, the classic Mitchell smirk in place.

"No, Beca you don't understand," she began to explain herself. "There is something very wrong with our baby! I have tried literally everything else I could think of to settle her and nothing worked! She only responds to rap music!"

Beca chuckled at how flustered Chloe was getting.

"Why are you laughing? This is serious!" She admonished her giggling wife.

"Like I told you already it's not that big of a deal," Beca rolled her eyes, approaching her wife and baby. She wrapped her arm around Chloe's waist and leaned in to press a kiss to both their cheeks.

"It's not a big deal now maybe, but what are we going to do when we get called into her nursery to explain why while all the other kids are humming the wheels on the bus our baby is rapping 99 problems!" She frowned at her wife which only made Beca laugh more.

"I think you're over-reacting a little Chlo," she shook her head. "There's no way a toddler would have the language skills to do 99 problems."

"Not the point!" Chloe huffed.

"Babe relax, it's just the rhythm she finds soothing," Beca tried her best to reassure her wife.

Chloe heaved a defeated sigh; she knew she was making a big deal out of something stupid, she just found it incredibly strange that Charlie only responded to rap music.

"Alright so maybe it's not the crisis I'm making it out to be but you have to admit it's kind of weird," Chloe reasoned.

"I'd expect nothing less from our kid," Beca chuckled lightly. "At least we know she already has decent taste in music, one less thing to worry about when she gets older!"

"You know I'm not entirely sure how, but I'm inclined to believe that this is somehow your fault," Chloe teased.

"That's ok," Beca shrugged. "If Aubrey ever finds out about this she's going to blame me too."


	3. Chapter 3

The screaming cries of a three month old cut through the din of the coffee shop. Chloe and Beca had been debating bringing their teething baby out with them to meet Aubrey for coffee but she had been quiet and settled all morning so they had risked it. It turned out Charlie had been lulling them into a false sense of security because no sooner had they sat down after ordering their coffee when she started fussing. Chloe took action immediately, covering her in the wrap and trying to feed her but she wasn't hungry. Beca took over then as the hot drinks arrived and Chloe attempted to make conversation with Aubrey over the baby's cries. She nestled Charlie into the crook of her neck and rocked her, making shushing noises and patting her back. This too had no effect on the cranky little one who seemed intent on rigorously exercising her lungs.

"She has a higher belt than you, Bree," Beca joked, switching her daughter position and offered her a pacifier which she promptly spat out in favour of screaming.

"I can hear that," she chuckled, eyeing the couple with sympathetic eyes.

After 5 minutes Beca stood up and tried a combination of swaying and bouncing to quiet the baby. Aubrey looked suitably impressed by the fact that Beca was managing to drink her coffee through all her attempts to settle Charlie. Another 5 minutes of Charlie crying passed and Chloe was starting to feel bad for the other patrons of the coffee shop. She and Beca had developed a kind of immunity to the noise but she knew it must be hard for these people to enjoy their coffee with her crying; although to their credit no one was giving them anything other than sympathetic looks.

Beca caught Chloe's eye and gave her a look asking for permission to break out the secret weapon they both knew would end the screaming. Chloe cast a glance at Aubrey and then looked back at her wife giving her an affirmative nod. Beca smiled at her wife before moving Charlie to lie against her shoulder as she continued to sway and bounce from side to side.

 _"All these -itches, flows is my mini-me_  
 _Body smoking, so they call me young Nicki chimney._  
 _Rappers in they feelings cause they feeling me_  
 _I give zero f- and I got zero chill in me_  
 _Kissing me, copped the blue box that say Tiffany_  
 _Curry with the shot, just tell 'em to call me Stephanie_  
 _Gun pop and I make my gum pop_  
 _I'm the queen of rap, young Ariana run pop._ "

Charlie settled instantly in response to Beca's singing. Beca and Chloe shared a relieved grin as the brunette sat back down. Aubrey sat facing them with her mouth hanging open unable to believe what she had just witnessed.

"Chloe Anne Beale-Mitchell!" Aubrey gasped out in a scandalised tone. Chloe winced at the use of her full name but she couldn't help but smirk at the look Beca was giving her. "Are you seriously letting your wife rap to your 3 month old baby. That is so aca-inappropriate!"

"Hey it works," Chloe shrugged. At this point, with Charlie teething and being fussier than usual, she was just grateful they had a reliable way of soothing her.

"That's hardly the point!" Aubrey fired back. "Haven't you ever heard of nursery rhymes?"

"No Aubrey, we never considered singing nursery rhymes to our baby, we just jumped straight to the rap songs," Beca said dryly, earning herself a glare from the blonde.

"You know I might have expected something like this from you Beca, but honestly Chloe I thought you would have known better," Aubrey sighed disappointedly at her best friend.

"You think I haven't tried literally everything else to soothe her?" Chloe scoffed. "Nothing works; our girl is all about the rap songs."

"I can't believe this," she shook her head.

"Can't believe we do it or that it works?" Beca asked with a smirk.

"Both!"

"Bree it's not that big of a deal and look she's settled now so why don't we enjoy our coffee while we can," Chloe interjected knowing she didn't want to spend whatever previous amount of peace they were going to get listening to Aubrey lecture them about their parenting skills.

"Fine!" The blonde relented. "But I _will_ be telling your mother about this!"

Chloe and Beca scared a smirk, they didn't have it in them to tell Aubrey that Mrs Beale thought the video Chloe sent her if Beca singing no diggity to their baby was both hilarious and adorable.


	4. Chapter 4

Beca had always secretly enjoyed watching Chloe get ready for a night out. When they lived in the Bellas house the time during which the girls would get ready was chaotic; that many girls and only three bathrooms meant it quickly turned into a free for all. There would be banging on bathroom doors, hurrying in and out of each other's rooms to borrow clothes or get help with hair and make up, it was frantic. Everyone except Chloe that was. The redhead made getting ready to go out look like performance art and Beca could never resist watching. The way she glided effortlessly around the room fixing her hair in one mirror but applying make up in another, how she would progress from wearing a towel over her underwear to half dressed before finally being ready all the while humming to herself and smiling widely; Beca found it mesmerising. Even now after years of being together she still loved watching Chloe get ready, if anything the knowledge that Chloe was dressing up for her just made the whole process more enjoyable.

Beca sat crossed legged on their bed with Charlie in her lap watching Chloe prance around the room in just a black skirt that stopped a few inches shy of her knee and black lacy bra. She had gotten ready first so she could watch Charlie and allow Chloe to immerse herself in her getting ready routine.

"Isn't your mommy so pretty," Beca cooed at the 8 month old who responded with a grin that showed off her bottom teeth.

"Mommy may be pretty but your Mama's pretty hot too," Chloe called back with a light chuckle as she watched them in the mirror.

"Glad you think so," Beca winked at her wife. She allowed herself to indulge in watching Chloe for another five minutes before she moved to get off the bed.

"I'm going to bring her down, I want to give her her medicine before Aubrey arrives," Beca said, carefully kissing Chloe on the cheek to avoid ruining her make up.

Charlie was having a tough time cutting her newest set of teeth, she was fussy and running a very mild fever. Chloe and Beca were going to cancel their plans to go out but Aubrey insisted she could handle it and that they should go and celebrate their anniversary. It had taken Chloe a day to convince Beca, who had been close to tears listening to Charlie's pained cries, that Aubrey would be fine. After two days on baby paracetamol Charlie had settled and was only mildly fussy which made Beca feel much better about leaving her with Aubrey. She carried the baby to the kitchen and strapped her into her high chair while she got the medicine ready. She distracted Charlie by handing her a cold carrot stick and poured the medicine in her mouth before the little girl had any idea what was going on. She smacked her lips at the taste of the baby paracetamol before bringing the carrot stick to her mouth.

"You're such a good girl," Beca cooed, lifting her from the high chair and kissing her red-blonde hair. "The medicine will make you feel all better."

The doorbell rang at precisely 7.15 and Beca moved to let Aubrey in.

"Hey Bree!" She greeted the blonde who scarcely cast a glance in the DJ's direction, instead focusing all her attention on the baby in her arms.

"Hi Charlotte!" She cooed brightly. "How's my cutie pie doing? Are we going to have fun tonight?"

"She's good. Hasn't been too fussy today," Beca nodded as they made their way into the living room. Aubrey barely set her bag down beside the couch before she was turning to Beca with her arms out demanding the baby. Beca rolled her eyes but obliged; Aubrey was doing them a favour tonight, besides she had gotten used to people only using them to get cuddles from their adorable baby.

"That's good," Aubrey smiled and pressed kisses against her aca-nieces forehead. "She doesn't feel too hot."

"No she hasn't been, and I just gave her the baby paracetamol so she should be fine until we get home."

"She'll be more than fine. She's going to have a great time with her Aunt Aubrey!"

"Sure she is!" Chloe chimed in as she joined them in the living room. Beca's heart did a little flip when she took in the now fully ready Chloe. "Hey Bree!"

"Hey Chlo! You look great," the blonde smiled at her best friend.

"You look better than great!" Beca added, raising her eyebrows in appreciation of her wife's beauty.

"Thank you," she beamed and Beca. "You look pretty better than great yourself Mrs Beale-Mitchell!"

"What this old thing?" Beca shrugged, waving her hands at the leather trousers and white sleeveless blouse she had opted to wear.

"Don't you two have reservations at a restaurant where you can go do that," Aubrey wrinkled her nose and waved her finger in their general direction. It never failed to amaze her how even after all the years they'd been together they could still be so grossly cute.

"Are you trying to kick us out of our own home?" Beca scoffed.

"Yes," Aubrey replied plainly.

"We should get going," Chloe intervened before her wife and best friend could get into a verbal sparring match. "You know where everything is don't you?"

"I've got this Chloe!" Aubrey assured her.

"She's had her dinner and her medicine, there's a bottle in the fridge for bedtime and there's some cut up apple and carrot sticks if her little teeth start bothering her," Chloe rhymed off the list, stroking her daughter's slightly red cheeks.

"We will be fine!" Aubrey repeated. "Charlie give your moms a kiss and tell them to have a nice time."

"Love you babygirl, be good for Aunt Aubrey," Chloe kissed her baby.

"We'll be back soon jellybean!" Beca leaned in and kissed Charlie's other cheek.

The first hour of babysitting passed uneventfully. Aubrey had sat on the floor playing with Charlie's toys with some inane singing children's programme on in the background. She had given her a few cold apple slices and just enjoyed the chance to have one on one time with her godchild. At around 8.30 she decided it would be a good time to get Charlie into her pyjamas so they could play for another while before bed. This was around the time it all started going to hell.

It started with a few whimpers here and there. A couple of frustrated squeals while they were playing but it quickly devolved into full on wailing before Aubrey could get a handle on it. She picked the little girl up in her arms and held the cold pacifier to her mouth, pacing up and down the living room while rocking her.

"It's ok baby girl," she shushed softly. She tried holding her a few different ways to see if any of those helped with the screeching. She had googled ways to soothe fussing babies before signing up to the job. She warned the bottle from the fridge, offering it to the baby to see if hunger was the reason behind her cries but Charlie simply spat the teat out. The crying continued.

She thought maybe a change of scenery would distract the baby so they headed up to the nursery. The pastel yellow walls were bathed in soft light coming from the floor lamp, which certainly seemed more soothing than the overhead lighting downstairs. Aubrey pressed the button on the mobile hanging over the crib and sat down in the rocker. She knew Beca and Chloe had warned her that Charlie was fussy due to teething but still she was a little bit affronted by her inability to calm the crying baby. She was usually pretty good with babies, especially Charlie, so why couldn't she get her to stop crying. She held her close to her chest and hummed along with the lullaby playing from the mobile. Charlie's cries hardly quieted.

"Why don't we sing?" Aubrey suggested, mostly talking aloud so she could hear something that wasn't baby cries. "Your mommies sing to you all the time don't they?"

She shifted Charlie and began to sing the first song that came to her kind.

 _"Close your eyes give me your hand, darling_  
 _Do you feel my heart beating?_  
 _Do you understand?_  
 _Do you feel the same?_  
 _Am I only seaming?_  
 _Or is this burning an eternal flame."_

Charlie continued crying.

"Not a Bangles fan, huh, guess you're more like your Mama than I thought," she muttered wrecking her brain for another song. "How about Disney? They play you Disney songs don't they?"

 _"Tale as old as time, true as it can be_  
 _Barely even friends then somebody bends_  
 _Unexpectedly._  
 _Just a little change, small to say the least_  
 _Both a little scared, neither one prepared_  
 _Beauty and the beast."_

Still no effect.

"Oh come on Char, that's a classic!" Aubrey pouted. She held the little girl out so she could look at her face. Charlie's face was scrunched up, her eyes closed and her mouth wide open releasing ear splitting screams into the room. "So is it just entirely inappropriate rap songs that work? Because we could rap some other songs."

Aubrey held the baby close to her as she tried to recite the wheels on the bus to a rap rhythm. If anything that made Charlie cry louder. Aubrey groaned. It has been almost an hour of the baby crying and she had tried literally everything she could think of to soothe her.

"Ok, but I want you to know that I'm only doing this because I love you too much to hear you cry any longer," she explained to her godchild, unable to believe what she was about to do. "And we are never telling your mothers about this!"

 _"Ooo that dress so scandalous and you know another guy couldn't handle it_  
 _I see you shaking that thing like who's da -ish_  
 _With a look in your eye so devilish,"_ Aubrey began tentatively at first, surprised when Charlie's cries began to fade to whimpers.

 _"You like to dance at the hip-hop spots_  
 _And you cruise to the crews like connect the dots_  
 _Not just urban she likes the pop_  
 _Cause she was livin' la vida loca,"_ she began to have fun with it bouncing Charlie in time with the beat altogether unaware that she was being watched.

 _"She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck_  
 _Thighs like what, what, what_  
 _Baby move your butt, butt, butt_  
 _I think I'll sing it again."_

"Wow sick rhymes Posen!" Beca's amused tone made the blonde jump. She wheeled around on her heels to find Beca and Chloe standing in the doorway to the nursery with broad, amused grins on their faces.

"What are you guys doing home?" She demanded, trying to take the attention off what she had been caught doing.

"We decided to just come home after dinner, we can go dancing some time our baby isn't home not feeling well," Chloe explained, crossing the room to take her daughter from her best friend's arms and cuddle her close.

"You didn't have to do that," Aubrey sighed. "We were doing fine."

"This wasn't because we didn't trust you to handle it. We couldn't relax knowing she's not her usual happy self," Chloe assured her friend. "Besides you were singing Sisqo to our baby so I think it's safe to assume she was fussing."

"I...she..." Aubrey stammered.

"I mean seriously Bree, don't you know any nursery rhymes," Beca teased.

"I tried everything. I even tried rapping nursery rhymes but she only likes inappropriate rap songs," the blonde huffed in exasperation. "I blame you for this!"

"Me?" Chloe gasped in shock. She really hadn't expected to come under fire for this peculiar quirk of their daughter's. Beca's eyes widened in surprise too; she had been certain this would be pegged as her fault.

"She lived inside you for 9 months and she obviously picked up on that crazy reaction you get when Beca raps!"

"What?" Chloe squeaked.

"I told you!" Beca chuckled, earning her a glare from both woman as she stole Charlie from Chloe and covered her with kisses.

"Oh please, the night at the riff-off when the hobbit broke out no diggity was when I first saw your toner for her!" Aubrey scoffed. "And clearly you've passed on that trait."

Chloe and Beca broke down into fits of giggles at how annoyed Aubrey was getting. Eventually the blonde cracked a smile too and joined in.

"Thanks for babysitting tonight," Chloe says sincerely when the giggles subsided. They might not have stayed out at long as they originally planned but they had still enjoyed their evening together. "Sorry if she was a little fussy."

"It was my pleasure," Aubrey smiled, reaching out to strike Charlie's cheek where she was now asleep in Beca's arms. "I love spending time with my goddaughter!"

"Maybe when she's over this fussy period you can watch her again and we will stay out longer," Beca suggested. She was glad they came home early, she had been feeling a little antsy at dinner worrying about Charlie, but she still owed her wife a night of dancing.

"I'd love that!"

"Might want to brush up on your rap skills though, just in case," Beca couldn't help but tease, quickly side stepping the slap Aubrey aimed at her arm.

 **A/N: So I had a few requests for Aubrey rapping to Charlie so I hope this was alright. Not my best I'll admit but hopefully it's OK.**

 **Also fun fact about this song. My best friend Dermy broke his ankle dancing to it in his garden when he was younger and yes you best believe I tell EVERYONE that story. He has a kid now and she will hear about it too!**


End file.
